BATON ROUGE — When the NFL Draft takes place this weekend in New York City it won’t take long to find out if LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell will be admitted to a club that includes the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Billy Cannon and Ben McDonald.
Russell goes into the 2007 NFL Draft projected as the No. 1 overall pick. If Russell is taken with the first pick, he will become the fifth player in the history of LSU athletics to be selected as the No. 1 overall selection in a professional draft.
Cannon was the first Tiger to be selected No. 1 overall in a draft as Los Angeles took the Heisman Trophy winner with the first pick in 1960.
McDonald was picked No. 1 overall by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1989 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, while O’Neal was taken first by the Orlando Magic in the 1992 NBA Draft.
Most recently, women’s basketball standout Seimone Augustus was taken with the first overall pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft by the Minnesota Lynx.
By going first, Russell would also become the 16th player in Southeastern Conference history to be selected first in the NFL Draft. Of the 15 SEC players picked first in the NFL Draft, four have been quarterbacks. The SEC’s most recent No. 1 overall pick came during the 2005 draft when Eli Manning was taken first by the San Diego Chargers.
The NFL Draft will be broadcast beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday by ESPN. The first three rounds of the draft will take place on Saturday followed by the final four rounds on Sunday. All seven rounds of the draft will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2.
LSU’s All-Time No. 1 Overall Draft Picks
Year Player League Franchise
1960 Billy Cannon NFL Los Angeles
1989 Ben McDonald Major League Baseball Baltimore
1992 Shaquille O’Neal NBA Orlando
2006 Seimone Augustus WNBA Minnesota